City lines up activities for 2nd Saleng festival

The City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) lined up various environment-related activities in celebration of the 2nd Saleng festival that will run through in the next four months.

The theme of this year’s Saleng or Tree festival theme is aligned with the 2022 World Environment Day theme “Only One Earth’ which highlights the need to live sustainably in harmony with nature by bringing transformative changes.

With the success of the first Tree Kart Parade last year, the event will be duplicated this year highlighting the use of any upcycled materials to promote the best practices of re-inventing unwanted materials into useful products. The said parade will be done on June 18 from the Session road rotunda down to People’s Park where a short program will be done.

Further, the tree karts will be displayed at People’s Park for 1 week to improve the ambience, like the cooling effect brought by trees when installed in the central business district.

From June to September, there are a number of activities lined up for the celebration that includes the Glee Club choral competition on August 26, 2022; Pantree every Sunday at Session road; Thrash Treasure Craft; Tree in a Pot exhibit on June 27 to July 23, 2022; TORI Capturing thru the Lens on July 4 to July 10, 2022; Forest Products month on June 5 to July 5, 2022 at the Igorot Garden; Green Business Expo on June 5 to July 5, 2022 at the Melvin Jones football grounds; webinar series on Baguio City environmental programs; Fun Run for the environment on June 5, 2022; and recognition of stakeholders and awarding of winners in all competitions and Green Thumb plaques on September 27, 2022 during the regular flag raising ceremony to be held at the City Hall grounds.

Earlier, the city government institutionalized the annual celebration of Saleng or Tree festival in line with the celebration of World Environment Day to help in empowering residents to actively participate in efforts to sustain the preservation and protection of the city’s environment.The city will also support the various national and international events for the environment such as the Internarial Day of Biodiversity observed every May 22 as a way to encourage people to become actively involved in reducing biodiversity loss which can lead to more extinction of life in the planet; World Environment Day every June 5; World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought every June 17; Philippine Environment Month every June; National Arbor Day every June 25 and National Cleanup Month every September and World Clean and green Week every September 17-23. – Dexter A. See